XXXVll 



THE PRESIDENl'S ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen, 



The task imposed on the President of this Society, of 

 giving a report of the progress of the Science during the past 

 year, is annually becoming more difficult : the vast range of the 

 subject, the multitude of workers, and the numerous means of 

 publication in all parts of the world, render it impossible for 

 anyone to keep himself thoroughly ait courant with every branch 

 of the subject, especially if, as in my case, he reside at a distance 

 from London and its great central scientific libraries. If I 

 contrast the activity which now everywhere appears with the 

 state of the Science and the condition of its literature when, 

 fifty-eight years ago, I commenced the study of Entomology, the 

 difi'erence is most striking and almost overwhelming. Then 

 there was no Entomological nor Zoological, nor even a Natural 

 History Magazine in existence ; neither Entomological nor even 

 Zoological Society, either at home or abroad ; and Berkenhout's 

 ' Synopsis,' Wood's 'Linnean Genera of Insects,' and Samouelle's 

 ' Useful Compendium ' were our guides. In what I now propose 

 to offer to your notice I have been guided more by general con- 

 siderations, and the investigation of views more extensive, than 

 the dry recapitulation of technical descriptions ; and I have also 

 abstained to a great extent from abstracting or noticing memoirs 

 published in exclusively Entomological works which can or ought 

 to be in the hands of all workers. The annual summaries of 

 Entomological works i)ublished in this country and on the Con- 

 tinent* will eventually complete the ver}' imperfect sketch which 

 I here offer you. 



* The ' Zoological Piecord ' for 1^75 appeared in the course of the last year. The 

 Entomological ' Bericht' for the years 1873 and 1874, by Herr Bertkau, appears in 

 the Archiv. f. Naturg., fortieth year, :2nd part, and' has been republished in the 

 Deutsche Entom. Zeitschr., twenty-first year, 1877, and a translation of the 

 Bibliographical part of my last year's Address has appeared in Dr. Katter's 

 ' EntomoloL'ischc Nachriciiten.' 



